The trial of the Davenport man accused of kidnapping and killing Breasia Terrell is slated to start this week.
Thirty-six months and 28 days have passed since she disappeared. Scott County prosecutors say Henry Earl Dinkins kidnapped Breasia, shot her and dumped her body in Clinton County on July 10, 2020.
The attorneys for Henry Dinkins (above) requested his trial in the murder of Breasia Terrell be moved back.
The trial was moved from Scott County to the Linn County Courthouse in Cedar Rapids after the Iowa Supreme Court granted a change of venue April 22, 2022. The court is expected to rule on motions today, jury selection will be conducted Tuesday and opening statements are slated to start Wednesday.
Scott County Attorney Kelly Cunningham will lead the prosecution, while Dinkins is represented by Chad Frese and Joel Waters.
A wooden cross painted for Breasia Terrell stands with other tokens at a memorial near the site where Breasia's remains were found outside DeWitt.
When Breasia Terrell disappeared
A 10-year-old who wore her hair in braids, Breasia loved basketball and the color purple and dancing in TikTok videos. She was reported missing July 10, 2020, after spending the night with her younger brother at the apartment of his father, Dinkins.
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Dinkins immediately became a “person of interest” in Breasia disappearance.
Law enforcement from across eastern Iowa searched for her. Volunteers trudged through tall grass, ditches and wood areas throughout Scott and Clinton counties. A collective sadness mounted on March 22, 2021, when two fishermen found human remains in a nearly hidden pond three miles north of DeWitt.
The next day, investigators from the Division of Criminal Investigation finished removing the remains from the pond.
On March 31, 2021 Davenport Police Chief Paul Sikorski delivered what he calls “heartbreaking news” and confirmed the remains were those of Breasia Terrell.
A wooden cross painted for Breasia Terrell stands with other tokens at a memorial near the site where Breasia's remains were found north of DeWitt.
Henry Dinkins’ journey
The man accused of killing Breasia has been in one jail or another since July 10, 2020.
First arrested for violations of the sex offender registry, Dinkins was first held in the Scott County Jail. He was moved to the Clinton County Jail. On April 12, 2022, he was moved to Marshall County Jail to be closer to his attorney.
On Oct. 7, 2022, District Court Judge Henry Latham granted a request to delay the trial filed by Dinkins’ attorney, Chad Frese, in order to “allow them adequate time to prepare.” Former Scott County Attorney Michael Walton filed a resistance to the motion.
On Dec. 9, 2022, Latham scheduled Dinkins’ jury trial for Aug. 8, 2023.
Breasia Terrell
Dinkins, by the numbers
Dinkins’ attorneys have argued against the prosecution’s use of his past record, stating his sex-offender crime was committed at a young age and would prejudice a jury against him.
1—Dinkins was convicted of third-degree sexual assault Aug. 23, 1990 — his very first offense. He was 17 at the time of the crime and found guilty of assaulting a girl 13 or younger. Dinkins is considered a Tier III offender, the most severe of the three Iowa sex offense tiers. It means the offender committed violence or threatened violence during the assault.
9—According to Iowa court records, Dinkins pleaded guilty nine times in non-traffic cases to charges ranging from simple misdemeanors to felony drug possession. On Feb. 24, 2003, Dinkins pleaded guilty to the aggravated misdemeanor charge of failing to register as a sex offender—first offense. In September of the same year, Dinkins pleaded guilty to the aggravated misdemeanor charge of being a sex offender and living within 2,000 feet of a school.
6—Iowa Department of Corrections records show Dinkins has been incarcerated by the state six times after being found guilty of various offenses, the first time after he was convicted of third-degree sexual assault in August 1990. He was incarcerated in December of 2019 and paroled before Breasia’s disappearance in July 2020.
Fliers are placed on cars during a walk in honor of missing Breasia Terrell, 10, of Davenport, at Vander Veer Park Sunday, Nov. 15, 2020, in Davenport.
These regions see the worst wildfires
These regions see the worst wildfires
Wildfires are critical to maintaining a healthy, balanced ecosystem. They keep diseases and harmful pests at bay; clear dead, unhealthy, or overgrown vegetation, promoting new growth and habitats; and fortify the soil with vital nutrients. Some species, like pyrophytic plants, have adapted to naturally occurring, low-severity fires and even depend on wildfires in order to propagate. Each one of these benefits has countless, far-reaching impacts of its own.
But human activity, negligence, and anthropogenic-driven climate change are disrupting the natural fire ecology in many regions. Although some wildfires occur naturally—those caused by lightning strikes, for example—the vast majority of wildfires do not. Between 2018 and 2022, 89% of wildfires were the result of human activity.
Insurify cited data from the National Interagency Fire Center to identify which regions have experienced the worst wildfires over the past decade and highlight how 2022 compared. States are ranked by the 10-year average of acreage burned per wildfire.
Wildfires are increasing in intensity
Periods of extreme heat and prolonged drought are leading to larger, more destructive fires, though not a greater number of them compared to several decades ago. Since 2000, on average, 70,025 wildfires have burned 7 million acres each year across the country — more than double the annual average of 3.3 million acres in the 1990s, when a greater number of fires occurred each year.
Changing fire ecologies vary from region to region. Factors such as the wildfire season starting earlier in the year (often coinciding with high seasonal winds) and severe drought in rangelands and shrublands (which essentially turns the landscape into tinder) greatly influence fire ecologies.
#10. Northern California area
- 10-year average
--- Area burned: 921,091 acres
--- Number of fires: 4,099
--- Area per fire: 8.2 acres
- 2022 numbers
--- Acres burned: 246,990 acres (73.2% less than 10-year average)
--- Number of fires: 3,429 (16.3% less than 10-year average)
--- Area per fire: 72.0 acres (779.5% greater 10-year average)
- Worst year of the decade: 2020 (2.8 million acres)
Driven by extreme heat and extended drought conditions, seven of California's 10 largest wildfires on record have happened within the past five years. Ten of the state's top 20 most destructive fires have also happened within the last five years and have burned a cumulative area of land roughly the size of Connecticut.
#9. Eastern area
- 10-year average
--- Area burned: 81,067 acres
--- Number of fires: 9,468
--- Area per fire: 8.4 acres
- 2022 numbers
--- Acres burned: 64,342 acres (20.6% less than 10-year average)
--- Number of fires: 8,592 (9.3% less than 10-year average)
--- Area per fire: 7.5 acres (10.4% less than 10-year average)
- Worst year of the decade: 2021 (152,669 acres)
The Eastern area of the U.S. includes 20 states between Maine and Minnesota and those as far south as Missouri, West Virginia, and Maryland. As in the West, the Eastern area has also been impacted by drought and extreme heat. The East actually experiences more wildfires than the West; however, they're usually much smaller and less severe. In 2022, roughly 20,000 wildfires burned approximately 5.8 million acres in the West, compared to more than 48,000 fires that burned under 2 million acres in the East.
#8. Great Basin area
- 10-year average
--- Area burned: 1.1 million acres
--- Number of fires: 2,634
--- Area per fire: 15.2 acres
- 2022 numbers
--- Acres burned: 436,598 acres (59.7% less than 10-year average)
--- Number of fires: 2,121 (19.5% less than 10-year average)
--- Area per fire: 205.8 acres (1253.6% greater 10-year average)
- Worst year of the decade: 2012 (2.5 million acres)
The Great Basin area, which includes much of Idaho, Nevada, and Utah, has seen larger, more destructive wildfires in recent years, largely due to extreme drought. In recent years, southern Nevada has experienced exceptional drought conditions. In 2022, the average wildfire covered a footprint roughly 14 times larger than the average fire from the past decade. Fires in the rangelands of the Great Basin area are fueled by grasses such as cheatgrass, which is abundant and burns easily.
#7. Alaska area
- 10-year average
--- Area burned: 1.1 million acres
--- Number of fires: 493
--- Area per fire: 119.2 acres
- 2022 numbers
--- Acres burned: 3.1 million acres (171.9% greater 10-year average)
--- Number of fires: 595 (20.7% greater 10-year average)
--- Area per fire: 5,228.5 acres (4287.2% greater 10-year average)
- Worst year of the decade: 2015 (5.1 million acres)
In Alaska, the size and frequency of fires are exceeding historical averages. Between 2000 and 2020, wildfires burned more than double the acreage burned during the previous 20-year period. Most of this increase has occurred in the state's tundra and boreal forest due to increased heat and drought, along with shorter snow seasons.
#6. Rocky Mountain area
- 10-year average
--- Area burned: 540,381 acres
--- Number of fires: 2,991
--- Area per fire: 161.2 acres
- 2022 numbers
--- Acres burned: 273,503 acres (49.4% less than 10-year average)
--- Number of fires: 2,392 (20.0% less than 10-year average)
--- Area per fire: 114.3 acres (29.1% less than 10-year average)
- Worst year of the decade: 2012 (1.2 million acres)
Forests at high elevations in the Rocky Mountains are burning more now than at any time in the past 2,000 years as a result of extreme heat and drought, according to a 2021 study published by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. In 2020 alone, the area burned in the central Rocky Mountains nearly doubled the cumulative area burned in that region since 1984, the study found. This trend is especially alarming because, historically, subalpine forests burn infrequently.
#5. Southern California area
- 10-year average
--- Area burned: 384,102 acres
--- Number of fires: 4,619
--- Area per fire: 210.5 acres
- 2022 numbers
--- Acres burned: 87,350 acres (77.3% less than 10-year average)
--- Number of fires: 4,460 (3.4% less than 10-year average)
--- Area per fire: 19.6 acres (90.7% less than 10-year average)
- Worst year of the decade: 2020 (1.1 million acres)
The Southern California area includes everything south of Sacramento. Extreme heat and drought have impacted this region more than most others in the U.S. An abundance of dead, dry, accumulated vegetation—including pine needles and leaf litter—is wildfire fuel just waiting for combustion. In 2021 alone, roughly 1.5 million acres of the Sierra Nevada region—which span into Southern California—burned. The majority of those acres were subject to high-severity fire, which killed at least three-quarters of the vegetation.
#4. Northern Rockies area
- 10-year average
--- Area burned: 601,391 acres
--- Number of fires: 3,179
--- Area per fire: 316.9 acres
- 2022 numbers
--- Acres burned: 223,746 acres (62.8% less than 10-year average)
--- Number of fires: 2,710 (14.8% less than 10-year average)
--- Area per fire: 82.6 acres (73.9% less than 10-year average)
- Worst year of the decade: 2017 (1.6 million acres)
Montana, North Dakota, northern Idaho, and portions of South Dakota and Wyoming comprise the Northern Rockies region. Here, excessive dryness can lead to increased risks of wildfires. Recent assessments of the region describe how drought, even in the midst of extreme cold, can freeze-dry vegetation, which then fuels wildfires in the absence of low moisture levels.
#3. Northwest area
- 10-year average
--- Area burned: 1.2 million acres
--- Number of fires: 3,717
--- Area per fire: 342.5 acres
- 2022 numbers
--- Acres burned: 631,605 acres (47.1% less than 10-year average)
--- Number of fires: 3,611 (2.9% less than 10-year average)
--- Area per fire: 174.9 acres (48.9% less than 10-year average)
- Worst year of the decade: 2020 (2.0 million acres)
Encompassing Washington and Oregon, the Northwest area is characterized by forests, shrublands, and grasslands. Climate change has led to extreme heat and drought conditions in the region; this includes less snowpack, earlier snowpack melt, dry soil, and dry vegetation. These factors—especially in tandem—have intensified wildfires, making it easier for them to start and spread.
#2. Southern area
- 10-year average
--- Area burned: 894,181 acres
--- Number of fires: 27,247
--- Area per fire: 368.0 acres
- 2022 numbers
--- Acres burned: 1.5 million acres (69.8% greater 10-year average)
--- Number of fires: 38,945 (42.9% greater 10-year average)
--- Area per fire: 39.0 acres (89.4% less than 10-year average)
- Worst year of the decade: 2017 (2.0 million acres)
The Southern area covers 13 states, from Virginia down to Florida on the East Coast and stretching as far west as Oklahoma and Texas. Modeling suggests the Southeastern U.S. will experience an increase in fire risk as well as a longer fire season over the next several decades. Climate change will also likely bring more lightning. Areas burned by lightning-ignited wildfires are expected to increase by 30% by 2060.
#1. Southwest area
- 10-year average
--- Area burned: 514,715 acres
--- Number of fires: 2,838
--- Area per fire: 2,163.2 acres
- 2022 numbers
--- Acres burned: 983,957 acres (91.2% greater 10-year average)
--- Number of fires: 2,133 (24.8% less than 10-year average)
--- Area per fire: 461.3 acres (78.7% less than 10-year average)
- Worst year of the decade: 2020 (1.0 million acres)
The Southwest area is one of the smallest geographical regions, covering just Arizona and New Mexico. However, it's experiencing some of the most dramatic wildfire changes fueled largely by heat and drought. Fire season in these two states is now starting earlier in the year and is also characterized by a growing number of fires per season. Wildfire season starting earlier in the spring means it is coinciding with periods of typical, seasonal heavy winds, which allow fires to grow larger and more intense.
Data reporting by Emma Rubin. Story editing by Brian Budzynski. Copy editing by Tim Bruns. Photo selection by Clarese Moller.
This story originally appeared on Insurify and was produced and distributed in partnership with Stacker Studio.
